This article is written by Sudhir, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Blog Day :

4010

Post No. :

15117

Movie Count :

4152

Songs Repeated in Hindi Films – 6
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The heart must have missed a beat – on reading the title of this post. Goodness. . . this wonderful iconic song, 65 years ago – it captured the imagination and the hearts of a generation, nay, many a generation of young hearts in love. This unforgettable song is imprinted on the sands of memory, never to be erased by any winds that may blow, till the end of life.

The golden age of melody was at its peak. The manner in which Shailendra knit together the words and lines of this love song – cannot be and has not been bettered since. The melody and the orchestration conceived by Shanker Jaikishan – the arrangement of the instruments, the preludes, the interludes, the rhythm – everything just perfect in this song. The renditions – Manna Da and Lata – the voices working together seamlessly – rising and falling in unison, and in apposition, complementing, merging – the “aa haa haa” lines going up all the way to the clouds. The lines

pyaar jo tootasaath jo chhoota

receding into the depths of somber apprehensions, and then suddenly a rising declaration of a resolution,

chaand na chamkega kabhi

the rendition volume going up all the way to the moon. The resolve expressed with such a dignified confidence in the nature’s machinations. The moon – no it will never stop shining, and thus, by implication, this love will never be broken, this companionship will never part. And suddenly, instinctively, unknowingly there is a lump in the throat and a warm moisture on the corners of the eyelids. Yes, yes – that is what love is – the poet, the music-waala, the singers – yes, they have got it just right, on the dot. Yes that is what love is, what it ought to be. Such noble souls lived in that golden era – who could feel it right, and conjure up an imagination, combining the words, the music and the sound – and then tell it to us so simply – that no further discourse would be necessary.

I am reminded of another quintessential song from the same film –

ramaiya vasta vaiyamaine dil tujhko diya

And once again, the simplest of words, the simplest verse one can conjure up – and there is no better way, no better words invented, before or since, to say – I love you.

And the scene, the depiction – the conceptualization – a master presenter is at work here. Here is an emotional entanglement coming to fruition in the hearts of two young people, almost at the very bottom of the ladder of social significance. A part time employee at a laundry, who has “borrowed” a suit that has come for cleaning, and his shoes are in tatters. A self employed teacher, who gives basic education to the underprivileged children in the backyard of her own home. But then love does not check on social status, or verify your bank balances, before making a burrow into the hearts. That love is simple. That love is without embellishments. That love is honest and innocent. That simply is love, and it happens, just happens.

The overcast skies, the lashing rains, the amused witness – the chaiwaala (tea seller), the incidental umbrella, the handy tootle that the young man plays, the happenstance of three cheruby toddlers in raincoats – all put together in a scenario that simply cannot now be erased from the memory’s palette.

The emotional expressions of the leading pair are just as consummate and accomplished as the scenario itself. The sharing of the umbrella becomes such a pivotal exchange. The young man offers it to the lady. And she hands it back, seeing him getting drenched. He takes it, but then sees that she is in the same plight, so immediately offers it back to her. She once again takes it, and with a helplessness writ large on her face, sees him getting drenched once again. And then the inevitable happens. With her eyes clenched, and her lips trembling with apprehension, she inches closer to him – dawning of the realization that one must share when there is a need. And the two come close now, holding the same umbrella – realizing that in love, one has to share, one has to hold together, and one has to steady each other against the squall of the winds and outpourings of this ruthless world.

And then the song begins – question by the young man, not specifically directed at her, but at himself too. And the lady answers, for both of them together – “. . . Maaloom Nahin Hai Kahaan Manzil . . .”. One of the supreme examples of cinema at its very best, in telling about emotions that shake a heart when the love is just starting to take baby steps in there. Marvellous . . . simply marvelous – much more than the best of the words can express.

Um. . . kind of got carried away with the original. 🙂

25 years after the release of the original, this song was used once again in the 1979 film ‘Salaam Memsaab’. And the manner of use is so very innovative. A little earlier, back in 1970, when ‘Mera Naam Joke’ was released, at the beginning of part II we see Raj Kapoor at the Bombay Carnival, hosting a bioscope stand, singing “Kehta Ha Joker, Saara Zamaana. . .”. And as he sings, he is operating the bioscope in which we are treated to clips of his earlier films, especially ‘Awaara’ and ‘Shri 420’. It is fun to watch those clips in fast forward mode.

In ‘Salaam Memsaab’, a similar presentation is used. A little background. Radha (role played by Zarina Wahab) and Sunder (role played by Asrani) are two young people, friends and in love. They are the street tamaasha people who sing and dance on the roadside to earn their living. Sunder has high aspirations, and wants to become rich quickly. Radha also has aspirations, but she is averse to making compromises with her principles of honesty and truthfulness. They work together, but this difference in their view of life generates arguments.

Near the beginning of the film, just about half hour into it, Radha chances to see a bioscope man, playing his machine near the Gateway of India. She gets in line and starts watching – she gets in when the song “Pyaar Hua Iqraar Hua Hai. . .” is starting to play. We can see her enjoying the show, and then as the lead pair comes on at the beginning of the song, she gets into a different dreamy dimension of fantasy, and instead of seeing Raj Kapoor and Nargis on the screen, she sees herself and Sunder there, performing the same song, singing and expressing their newly discovered love for each other. She is fascinated, and the entire song is replayed on the screen in front of her, performed now by the two new lovers.

This is a very innovative presentation. In the singing parts of the clip, we can see Radha and Sunder performing, and in the other parts of the clip, the director uses the original footage and scenes. The entire song moves back and forth between the now Radha and Sunder, and the earlier scenes. Very interestingly edited and put together. E.g. when the line “Phir Bhi Rahengi Nishaaniyan” is playing, the scene clips back to the original version and we see the three toddlers with raincoats, toddling through the rain. Readers may recall that in the original version, the three kids are the children of Raj Kapoor – Ritu, Randhir and Rishi. The clip cuts back and forth between the current version, shown in subdued colors and shades, and the original version shown in black and white. Very intelligently designed.

In her dream of wide open eyes, Radha sees herself and Sunder, in an exact image of the hero and heroine on screen. As one watches their movements and expressions, the effort has been made to create an exact replica not just of the scenario, but also of the performance and expressions. You can open up two windows in the video playing software, and play the two songs, this one and the original, side by side. One is amazed by the effort made by Zarina and Asrani to replicate the performance as nearly as possible. Ah, we know it is not Raj Kapoor and it is not Nargis. But still it is a very impressive performance to see.

The film ‘Salaam Memsaab’ is produced under the banner of Roshan Films, Bombay and is directed by Asrani himself. The cast of actors includes Asrani, Zarina Wahab, Ranjeet, Manju Bansal, Rahman, Keshto Mukherjee, Asit Sen, Jugnu, Leela Mishra, Sulochana (Senior), Tom Alter, CS Dubey, Arvind Rathore, Anand Girdhar, Amol Sen, Dilip Tahil, Nilu Arora, Master Jeetu, Yusuf, and Raju, with friendly appearances by Ashok Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Yogita Bali, and Rishi Kapoor. The songs of this film are written by Majrooh Sultanpuri and the music is by RD Burman. Seven songs are listed for this film which have been rendered by Mohamed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

This song, being a reuse, is not listed in Geet Kosh. And as I mentioned in an earlier episode of this series, it is not easy to track down such re-use songs, unless one has actually seen the film(s). I had also written that since I started this series, I have been getting inputs from many friends, from our bandwagon and also from others in our music lovers group, about such reuse songs. Since these songs are generally not listed, such inputs from friends has really added many interesting reuse scenarios that I was not aware of.

Today’s song was sent in as a suggestion from Anekant ji. He is a regular contributor in our comments section, and I am sure all are familiar with him. Not being aware of this reuse song, I am delighted to get this input from him. A real wonderful song, and a real wonderful reuse after twenty five years – from 1954 to 1979 to 2019 – and forty more, when we are now reading about it once again. 🙂

A reuse that takes you into a fantasy land of a dream of wide awake eyes. I am sure all of us have had some similar experience some time or another in our lives. Apologies for the digression, but I just remembered another such on screen ‘dream of wide awake eyes’ which I just cannot resist mentioning. 🙂 For all those who have seen and remember ‘Chhoti Si Baat’ (1972). Yes, I am referring to the song “Jaaneman Jaaneman Tere Do Nayan”. Amol Palekar is watching the film in a theatre. Onscreen the song is being performed by Dharmendra and Hema Malini. And within a few seconds, Amol Palekar goes into this ‘dream of wide awake eyes’, and through his eyes, we see the song being performed on screen by himself and Vidya Sinha. The reverie is quiet painfully broken as the villain appears at the end of the song and hits the hero with a belt. (Just from that split second profile, my feeling has been that it was actor Manmohan, the villain I mean.)

Ah so, we have a new category of songs to mull over – ‘dream of wide awake eyes’. And I am sure the readers will recall many such songs in Hindi films – yes, we do that a lot. 🙂

Enjoy today’s wonderful reuse treat and let’s wait for the next – what more such entertaining surprises are coming up.